Portsmouth 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur
I wasn’t sure what to expect today, Portsmouth have been letting in lots of goals and Spurs have been playing poorly. Even with the mid-week League Cup win over Newcastle, where the team showed some improvement in the second half, it’s impossible to know what kind of performance Spurs will put in.
Today, the performance was pretty much the norm of late with Spurs struggling to make chances. We seemed to have lots of possession but with just playing Roman Pavlyuchenko upfront on his own, it was clear we lacked an attacking threat.
Surprisingly Gilberto replaced injured Gareth Bale on the left of midfield and did very little until being subbed at half time. Jamie O’Hara continued in centre of midfield and worked hard. David Bentley played on the right wing, and on a few occasions showed glimpses of what he’s capable, sadly though, he’s still not settled into the team.
Ledley King rested once again and so Michael Dawson came in. He defended pretty well and even burst forward a few times.
Gomes made a few good saves and showed good handling. He couldn’t do anything about Portsmouth’s first goal, a penalty, which was given after Jermaine Jenas handballed a Glen Little cross. Jermain Defoe put it away, of course.
We should have got a penalty ourselves after Lassana Diarra handballed a Aaron Lennon cross, however, the referee didn’t give it.
Portsmouth’s second goal came after Gomes parried an Armand Traore shot. Peter Crouch headed home.
We’re still bottom of the league on two points.
There were chants from Spurs fans during the game of “You don’t know what you’re doing!” Of course, these were aimed at Juande Ramos. I have to agree that some of his decisions of late have been questionable, even today he substituted Zokora, which was baffling, as he seemed one of the midfielders that was actually capable of making something happen. He also failed to bring on a second striker to play alongside Pavlyuchenko. He instead brought on Bent to replace the Russian.
Is it time for Ramos to go? I think so. I haven’t seen anything from him to suggest that he’s the right man to take Spurs forward, if anything, he seems to have taken us backwards. You could say that recent departures have contributed to the decline, however, I think the rot set in before the end of last season.
I think we need a new manager who can bring new ideas, enthusiasm, and generate a buzz around the team. I don’t think Ramos can ever provide any of that.
